Methodological Considerations on EEG Electrical Reference: A Functional Brain-Heart Interplay Study.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cardiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Functional brain-heart interplay (BHI) is increasingly studied.
• Electroencephalography (EEG) combined with heartbeat data is common for BHI.
• The effect of EEG preprocessing on BHI quantification remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate how four different EEG electrical referencing techniques influence BHI quantification.
• Assess the impact of referencing on BHI methods during resting-state.
• Compare BHI results across different EEG references and techniques.

Main Methods:

• Analyzed 4-minute resting-state EEG data from 15 healthy subjects.
• Applied four EEG referencing methods: Cz channel, common average, mastoids average, and Laplacian.
• Utilized BHI quantification methods including synthetic data generation, heartbeat-evoked potentials, heartbeat-evoked oscillations, and maximal information coefficient (MIC).

Main Results:

• EEG referencing impacts the topographical agreement between BHI estimation methods.
• The Laplacian reference showed the most significant differences between BHI methods.
• MIC analysis revealed the greatest differences between EEG referencing techniques.

Conclusions:

• The selection of an EEG electrical reference critically influences functional BHI quantification.
• Standardizing EEG referencing is important for reproducible BHI research.
• Further research is needed to determine optimal EEG referencing for BHI studies.